A Shape That Predates the Brand's Greatest HitsIn the early 1870s, Patek Philippe formalized a relationship with Gondolo & Labouriau, a Brazilian retail firm that would go on to account for roughly one-third of the brand's entire production before the partnership ended in the 1930s. The store was one of the biggest and most renowned jewelers in the world and helped build Patek's reputation in South America. The pieces sold through Gondolo & Labouriau were often rectangular and cushion-cased, curated specifically, for their clients in shapes that suited the taste of South American clientele and diverged from what Patek was producing for European markets.Between 1902 and 1930, those shaped cases gave rise to a specific product category: the Chronometro Gondolo, wristwatches in non-circular cases that wore the retailer's name and Patek's movement. When Patek revived the Gondolo name in 1993, they were not inventing something new. They were pulling forward a documented and rich history for Patek Philippe. The tonneau and rectangular forms of the modern line draw directly from those early-twentieth-century pieces, which arrived at Art Deco geometry before the term existed as a label.